ETD Software:Toward the Future with Retrospective Hindsight

Gail McMillanDigital Library and Archives, Virginia Tech

ETD 2008: 10th International SymposiumUppsala University

June 13, 2007

ETD software should

1. Provide interfaces for communities2. Provide interfaces for activities3. Use existing information4. Accept files5. Assign persistent URLS6. Warrant copyright7. Link to/from/among8. Communicate9. Approve10. Disperse copies appropriately11. Sort12. Access13. Expose14. Run on any platform

ETD software should provide 1. Provide interfaces for communities

• Authors• Faculty• Administrators• Managers• Public • Library• Systems personnel • NDLTD

ETD software should provide 1. Interfaces for authors and faculty

• Authors• Submit 1 or more files from anywhere• Modify their files until "finished" • Communication• Use several templates

• This could incorporate tags into the works such as title, paragraphs, tables, references, etc.

• Free form• Faculty

• Online committee approval• Committee chair

• Communication

ETD software should provide1. Interfaces for ETD Administrators

• Committee chair• Review submitted files• Communication • Approval

• Institution-level• Review submitted files, forms, etc.• Communication • Approval• Maintenance/manage

ETD software should provide 1. Interfaces for Public, Libraries

• Browse (by which fields)• Search (which fields, text)• Sort• Meaningful error messages• Seamless redirection from damaged files• Communicate with authors

ETD software should provide 1. Interfaces for Systems Personnel

Rewrite from Perl to Java Easily customizable scripts Meld 3 databases into 1 (submit, available, withheld) CONTROL: Appropriately limit access

Administrative access only by reviewer/approver; manager Faculty access only by students’ committees Inaccessible: Systems Administrator and ETD manager(s) only Restricted: IP addresses associated with author's home

institution (e.g., 128.173… .vt.edu) Backup

Frequently, periodically Multiple locations on/off site

ETD software should provide 2. Interfaces for activities

• Submit• Communicate• Backup• Review/approve• Preserve

• Maintain/manage • Adapt for other uses

• Display• Browse• Search • Sort

ETD software should 3. Use existing information to

• Fill out submission form• Derive subsequent records• Sort• Assign call numbers• Map keywords to controlled vocabularies• Display

ETD software should 3. Use existing information

Human resource systems Names, email addresses

Official administrative records Type of doc, title, degree, dept, committee, chair, date of

defense Detected by ETD software

URN, file name, size, download time, Author’s add:

Keywords Availability/accessibility Copyright warranty

ETD software should 3. Use existing information for

Library catalog records Metadata Indexing Display Browse pages Lists Title page

ETD software should3. Use existing information

Sort for various user communities

Assign call numbers based on formulas LD5655 V855 1996 G885 Gerald Gutierrez’s VT masters thesis

Map key words to controlled vocabularies

ETD software should 4. Accept all files: Any number, any size, and all formats

Text .txt ASCII .pdf PDF .xml XML

Images .tif TIFF .jpg JPEG .gif GIF .png PNG

Video .mpg MPEG .mov Apple .qt Apple QuickTime

Audio .wav WAV .mpg MPEG .mp3 MPEG-3

ETD software should 5. Assign persistent URLs

• PURL• URN• URI• Handles• DOI• Etc.

ETD software should 6. Warrant copyright

• Functionality• Sharing• License

ETD software should 6. Warrant copyright: Functionality

• Recognize when authors use others’ works• Formal permission• Public domain• Fair use

ETD software should 6. Warrant copyright: Sharing

Provide authors with the opportunity to formally share copyright with their home institutions

I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee.

ETD software should 7. Link to/from/among

• Policies, guidelines, catalogs• Tools• Examples• Multiple files of one author• Administration and administrative functions• Help• Surveys

ETD software should enhance 8. Communication

• Allow• Track: administrator, author, advisor• Sequence: date stamp, group• Administer: prompt, add recipients• Store

ETD software should 9. Approve

• Who approves?• Committee members• Administrator

• What does “approve” mean?• Forms submitted • Forms completed• Fees paid

• To home institution• To vendors

• Signatures received• ETD completed

ETD software should 10. Disperse copies appropriately

• Redundancy: standard operating procedures• Mirror on separate equipment• RAID: mirror across drives

• Institutional repository• Digital library• Preservation, e.g. permanent digital preservation

system (e.g., NDLTD LOCKSS)

ETD software should 11. Provide appropriate access

• Administrative users• Limited

• Public• Worldwide

• Open Archives harvesters• Search engines• Contracted vendors

• Limited/Withheld• Automatic timed release

ETD software should 12. Sort

• At any stage in the process• Depending on

• User constituency• Purpose

ETD software should 13. Expose

• Software appropriately• Share intellectual property appropriately• Metadata to appropriate harvesters:

• OAI-PMH• Search engines• NDLTD Union Catalog

ETD software should 14. Run on any platform

• Robust or conservative• Open or proprietary

Bring It Together at VT: Translate Needs into WorkflowGanesh Chunungad Narayanaswamy, Srinivasa Raghavan Santhanam, Sriram Gopal

ETD Software: Toward the Future with Retrospective Hindsight

Thank you!

Gail McMillan, gailmac@vt.eduDigital Library and Archives, Virginia Tech